How do I find symbolic use of words in Scripture?

Remember the four personality types? One book I read said that one of them appreciates symbolism more than the other three. I suspect the apostle John is such a person, but I'm wondering if there is a more objective means of determining this.

First note that I would discount the symbolism in Revelation as proof, because most of it was dictated or demonstrated to John. He may have been chosen for his recording task because of a natural appreciation for symbolism, but the extensive use of it in Revelation doesn't particularly prove to me that John uses more symbolism in his natural speaking and writing than other writers.

So, my quest is this. Can anyone suggest methodology of using Logos searches to look for symbolic terminology in the NT? In addition, or alternatively, are there any resources you are aware of that have addressed this issue?

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Mark Smith

Don't know about the searching, but a good Logos resource is Dictionary of Biblical Imagery by IVP available in the Essential IVP Reference Collection.

Jim

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/162152#Comment_162152

Dictionary of Biblical Imagery by IVP

I took a look at that, and appreciate the suggestion, but found it to be a good resource for exploring the meaning particular words. On the other hand I'm interested in finding the frequency with which any one NT author uses symbolic terminology of any kind to see if one of them thinks in symbolic imagery more than others. For example I think John uses "light" and "dark" symbolically more than Paul but what about in general? Does John tend to create or use such imagery as a general rule in his writing more than other authors, or does someone else?

I realize this may be a weird request since the Bible is full of imagery and symbolic terms and phrases. It's just something I got to wondering about.

Mark Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/162164#Comment_162164

The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery also has articles on John's writings. Paul's are treated in individual sections by title of the letter. One way to go about a search would be to identify words John uses and see how Paul or Peter uses them.

Maybe someone else will come up with another suggestion.

Jim

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/162170#Comment_162170

The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery also has articles on John's writings. Paul's are treated...

Oh. I see. I didn't realize it had these articles. I'll look them over as a start. Thanks very much.

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/162164#Comment_162164

I realize this may be a weird request since the Bible is full of imagery and symbolic terms and phrases.

First, remember that there is not consensus as to what is figurative - consider the the debate over Last Supper / Communion /Eucharist.

Secondly, where do you want to place idioms that are a single lexical unit but may have their origin in imagery and symbolism?

That being said, for similar purpose I

1) go to the Dictionary of Biblical Imagery to pick an image and get a sense of its uses

2) do a search on all occurances of the word(s) and build a table ... formerly in Logos Notes ...

3) fill table

4. Collect interesting statistics by author, genre or what ever else has caught my attention.

Admittedly, I'm normally starting with a specific passage so I pick my images to study from a limited pool ...

Kevin Becker

A classic in this field is Bullinger's Figures of Speech Used in the Bible. Its in the base packages I believe so you probably have it. You might do a search like <John>,<1 John>, <2 John>, John>, <Revelation> to see what instances of figures Bullinger identifies in the Johannine literature. It won't be exhaustive but it might give you a feel for broad strokes of figurative language John uses.

Jim

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/162202#Comment_162202

Great suggestions. Thanks.